Policy and Commitment
- BVB’s Sustainability Strategy can be found within the club’s ‘Sustainable Development’ website here: https://verantwortung.bvb.de/2022/en/home-en/
- Borussia Dortmund is the first Bundesliga club and only the second European football club to join the United Nations Global Compact. The UN Global Compact (UNGC) is the United Nations’ voluntary business initiative for sustainable and responsible corporate governance.
- Borussia Dortmund started qualifying for ISO 14001 environmental management in February 2023. The club’s goal is to be audited in March 2024.
- One of BVB’s five focal points of work is “Always thinking ecologically: Environmental Sustainability” which it has linked to specific United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
- Borussia Dortmund’s emissions are documented and broken down into three categories, known as scopes, according to the Core Principles of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol). The club has documented the GHG indicators since 2017 and is working towards improvements in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute.
- As part of BVB’s holistic approach to sustainable development, the club has launched five long-term, overarching projects that it has dubbed as “match-winners”. The projects include:
- Stadium and real estate: sustainable development and management.
- Designing fair fan merchandise with future generations in mind.
- Promoting access to education.
- Mobility: Trips to/from the stadium by fans, the teams and employees.
- Sustainable events management.
- BVB’s goals include:
- Part of the match plan from the end of 2024 onwards: certified climate and environmental protection.
- Merchandise products will be significantly more sustainable from the 2024/25 season onwards.
- Will have a sustainable events management in place by 2025.
Clean/Renewable Energy
- 100% renewable energy for all locations, also from German hydropower.
- Solar PV system (8768 solar cells on the stadium roof for 1.9 million euros), 100% green.
- In 2016 alone, this meant a reduction in CO2 emissions 3,800 tons.
- 2021 BVB had 358,862 kWh of green electricity fed back to the Dortmund power grid, (2020: 421,306 kWh) and thus reduced CO2 emissions by 174 tons. (2020: 184 tons of CO2)
- As part of the sixth expansion of the team’s training facility and youth academy, the two new buildings (sports management offices as well as the goalhouse and media centre) as well as the existing buildings (dormitory, youth academy and footbonaut) were connected to a new integrated energy supply system. This includes solar panels on the roof of the sports management offices, generating 17,000 kWh of renewable energy for the club’s own needs.
- An energetic modernization concept is currently being developed. A feasibility study on the usability of mine water was carried out in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Infrastructure and Geothermal Energy in Bochum.
Energy Efficiency
- Borussia Dortmund started qualifying for ISO 50001 energy management certification in February 2023. An environmental manager and an energy manager were hired for this purpose in February 2023.
- Energy efficiency systems are not in place at all of the club’s locations, but this is being worked on.
- The home of Borussia Dortmund has relied on the energy-efficient, reliable and high-performance products from the Dortmund technology company Wilo for many years. From the water supply in the VIP areas to the changing rooms and underfloor heating.
- New Wilo-Stratos Maxo models have been supplying the south stand since 2019.
- LED floodlights.
- The training ground has an energy supply system.
Sustainable Transport
- Sustainable transport policies represent a crucial element in Borussia Dortmund’s approach to environmental responsibility. The club differentiates between how spectators travel to and from the stadium and the mobility and transportation of its employees at the team and company levels.
- The club also record the business trips that employees take.
- BVB commissioned its partner DSW21 to carry out a mobility analysis in order to be able to better manage travel to and from the event.
- Between 30,000 and 35,000 fans travel to and from SIGNAL IDUNA PARK for every home match using DSW21’s buses and trains.
- Match day tickets are valid throughout the whole state of North-Rhine Westphalia (>18 Million inhabitants) as public transport tickets. The club states that this is a key piece of its Mobility & Travel Policy as most fans are from that area.
- Fans can charge their e-cars outside the Signal Iduna Park at the BVB FanWelt. The charging stations are supplied with green electricity. There are also charging stations for e-cars in the branches.
- BVB introduced company bike leasing in March 2021.
- Since 2018, the club has compensated all flights of the team via “Atmosfair” (Gold Standard certified). The remuneration is shown in the sustainability report
Single Use Plastic Reduction/Removal
- Introduced a deposit system for cups in 2018/19 at Signal Iduna Park.
- Plans to form a working group – “Sustainable Events” to introduce a program and systemic policy.
- BVB used the data from a study regarding material flows in the stadium (Heidelberg Institute for Energy and Environmental Research) to use reusable cups in all areas of the stadium (apart from the south stand and guest block for safety reasons).
Waste Management
- A food management system is used to reduce the amount of prepared food that is wasted (reduction by 27%). Unavoidable food waste is transported 20 km to a nearby biogas plant for recycling.
- Pilot project in which those in need from Dortmund were invited to a free meal in the stadium has proven to be very successful and is to take place regularly.
- Borussia Dortmund started qualifying for ISO 14001 environmental management certification in February 2023.
Water Efficiency
- Water efficiency measures are implemented on a case-by-case basis, starting with the stadium.
- The association continues to gradually install water meters at individual locations in order to collect more detailed information about water consumption and to identify further savings potential.
- Installation of water meters at the sites using rainwater for irrigation, 16% synthetic fibres inside the pitch.
- Borussia Dortmund plans to use rainwater in the stadium and discusses the implementation of cisterns. The training facility already has cisterns and this possibility is being explored for the office.
Plant based/low carbon food
- Vegan and vegetarian options can be found at all locations.
- A test with the vegan bratwurst in the stadium together with the partner Rügenwalder Mühle was successful, the offer is to be expanded.
- 59% of food is from regional production.
Biodiversity
- A wildflower meadow was opened in 2020. A new project Schmetterlingsspirale (Butterfly Spiral), a kind of raised bed with butterfly-friendly plants, is to be created in the middle of the flower meadow.
- Added a nature trail to BVB’s sustainability project. The project which is in the immediate vicinity of the SIGNAL IDUNA Group’s head office comprises of a “shadow oasis” a snack garden and several other habitats for bees and native insects.
- Another environmental project that has been implemented is the “Borsig bees” in the north of Dortmund, in which 3 bee colonies were settled near Borsigplatz as part of the district development. The honey harvest was also celebrated accordingly.
- Together with the BVB learning centre, the BVB Foundation “Light up” has designed a learning garden on the subject of biodiversity near the stadium. The goal is to create additional places for biodiversity and to educate children and young people about this topic.
Education
- The BVB learning centre at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK is an initiative of the Dortmund e.V. fan project and is supported, among other things, by the BVB “Light Up” Foundation. Located in the heart of the stadium, directly under the south stand, the learning centre is primarily aimed at teenagers and young adults and tries to introduce them to topics such as anti-discrimination, political education or sustainability.
- The BVB learning garden is used to educate children and young people on the subject of biodiversity.
- BVB continues its commitment in the field of ecological education (BVB-Lerngarten, Stadt.Nah.Tour). This includes weekly beekeeping lessons with the new colonies, KidsClub trips to the “Borsig bees”, honey harvests or holiday camps.
- In addition, the “Stadt.Nah.Tour” was developed and organised together with the partners Signal Iduna and the Parks Office, which uses an educational trail around the Signal Iduna headquarters to draw attention to the important topic of biodiversity in a realistic way.
- A dedicated page for BVB’s Stadt.Nah.Tour’s includes additional information on a shadow oasis, bumblebees, butterfly scenes, wild meadows, wild bee wonderlands, snack gardens, bird fantasy, Beetle Cellar and hedgehog idyll.
- The BVB Kid’s Club has created instructions on how children and young people can build their own bee hotels.
- The club will promote environmental protection through education projects.
- An environmental sustainability/climate change education programme for staff and players is in the process of being created. The first how-to videos for staff were launched mid-March and cover waste segregation, water conservation and energy efficiency.
Communication and Engagement
- BVB’s Sustainability Strategy can be found within the club’s ‘Sustainable Development’ website here: https://verantwortung.bvb.de/2022/en/home-en/
- A sustainability report that describes BVB’s long-term commitment to sustainability and its interest in involving supporters in this area can be found on the investors’ website and on the website responsibility.bvb.de. https://responsibility.bvb.de/2022/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/BVB-Sustainability-Report-2021-2022.pdf
- BVB’s sustainability project in the immediate vicinity of the SIGNAL IDUNA Group’s head office is open to everyone and has extensive signage so that visitors can explore the area on their own initiative.
- The Stadt.Nah.Tour together with club mascot EMMA consists of two discovery tours which draws attention to BVB’s local nature. The “small discovery tour” takes attendees around the SIGNAL IDUNA Group premises. The “big discovery tour” stretches from the SIGNAL IDUNA building to Strobelallee.
- “EMMAs Entdeckerrunde” [EMMA’s Journey of Discovery] has now been enhanced to include an interactive rally for families and children.
Additional information
Information sourced directly from Borussia Dortmund staff, website and third party websites
Information updated May 15 2023
